Reversible latch



(ModeL) M. 0. NILES.

- REVERSIBLE LATCH. I 110. .90 8 Patented Dec. 12, 1882.

I'L'yE Q h s Witnelises bmafiow 0 5038 I n. PETERS. mwmm w. w-mimmy/c.

, UNITED STATES PATENT CFFICE.

MILTON'G. NILES, OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS.

REVERSIBLE LA'lCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 269,098, dated December 12, 1882. Application filed March 25, 1882. (Model) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MILTON O. NIL-Es, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oak Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Knob-Latches, set forth in the annexed specification,reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a rear elevation of a door-lock with my improvements applied, the upper portion of the back plate being removed; Fig. 2, an elevation of the inside of the back plate, the lower portion being broken away; Fig. 3, a bottom plan section taken on the line or as, Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a plan section ofa portion of a door with the lock and knobs in place, the section being taken on the line y y in Fig. 1; Fig. 5, an inner end elevation of one of the knobs and its shank, and Fig. 6 a detail plan view of the innerend of oneof the knob-shanks.

My present invention relates to improvements especially applicable to mortise-locks, particularly such as are provided with reversi ble latches, though some of the improvements are also applicable to other kinds of looks.

The invention consists in improvements in the means by which knob-shanks are attached to the lock-case, in the devices for throwing the bolt, and in the devices by which the bolt is made readily reversible.

I will proceed to describe in detail the construction and operation of the devices by means of which I have embodied myinvention in practical form, and will then point out definitely in the claims the special improvements which I believe to be new and wish to protect by Letters Patent.

In the drawings, A represents the case of a mortise-lock, and A the back plate thereof. Alever, B, is pivoted at one end to the upper portion of the case from which it depends, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the lower end thereof being left free. About midway between the ends the lever is provided with a pro- 5 jecting pin, b, on which. the bolt 0 is mounted,

the latter being punched at c for the reception of the pin, and the lever is thus made the carrier of the bolt. This bolt is comparatively short, extending a little distance inward beyond the lever. The inside of the case is provided with a lug, a, which prevents the tailpiece of the bolt from moving toward. this side, and the back plate is provided with a lug, a, which, when the back plate is fastened to the case, reaches inward, so as nearly to touch the tail-piece of the bolt, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, thereby preventing lateral movement toward the back plate, except as required to remove the bolt, as hereinafter described. A slight depression, a is made in the back plate, extending toward the outer edge thereof, outside of the log a, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, which allows the end of thebolt to be thrown outward farther in this direction when slipped forward off the lug, as will presently be described.

The lever B is provided at its upper end with a cam-projection, 22, extending inward, on which the free end of a spring, D, is arranged to rest, the other end of the'sprin g being held at the inner corner of the case, as shown in Fig. l of the drawings. Obviously the spring acting upon the upper side of this projection will operate to throw the free end of the lever outward, -and with it the bolt which is mounted on and carried by this lever. The bolt talons or slide E is connected at the outer end to the lever B by means of a pin, N, on the lever between its pivot and the boltpin b, which enters a lateral slot, 0, in the end of the slide. This slot permits a movement of the slide independently of the lever, or a vibration of the latter without moving the former.

On the lower branchof the slide is a small lug, e, projecting downward, which comes in contact with the lug a on the lock-case, thereby stopping the outward movement of the slide at a certain point. The projection is arranged so that it will stop the slide before the yoke-arm has passed entirely outside of the knob-shank apertures in the lock-case. The slide is thus prevented from ever slipping out so far that it cannot be reached through the said apertures in the lock-case to be thrown back when the knob-shanks are to be introduced, and thereby a difficulty is overcome which sometimes requires the lock to be taken out of the door and the back plate removed, unless a stick or some other suitable stop has too been put in to hold the slide from slipping forward before the lock is inserted in the door.

, The knobs F are attached to knob-shanks G, which are constructed substantially as shown in Letters Patent No. 227,642, granted to me May 18, 1880, so far as the means for attaching them to the case and forming the operative cam are concerned, the shanks being provided at their inner ends with cam-projections g, similar to those described in the patent mentioned, and operating in the same way. In the construction shown in the said patent, however, the bearing of the knob-shank in the case is at the extreme end and very narrow, so that a slight tilting of the shank to one side will slip the shank out of its bearing in the lock-case on the side opposite to the cams. To obviate this difficultyI have provided a short lug, g, on the end of the knob-shanks projecting outward therefrom on the edge opposite to the cams, as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. This will prevent the easy displacement of the knob-shank mentioned above, for it extends inward and beyond the lock-casing, as shown in Fig. 4 ofthe drawings, and so requires a greater side vibration of the knobshank to release it from the case. At the same time there is sufficient free space between the cams and the last-named projection to permit all the movement of the yoke-arm required to throw the bolt.

In order to make the bolt reversible, I provide means for stopping the forward throw of the lever B, so that in its ordinary movement, as it is vibrated by the slide, it can only go forward far enough to project the head of the .bolt to the extent usually required, and in this position the tail-piece of the bolt is always between the two lugs to a, so that the bolt cannot be vibrated sufficiently to remove it from its pin but if the stop is made movable obviously the lever will be thrown forward far enough to project. the bolt-head entirely outside of the face-plate when the knobshanksare removed, so as to permit a free reciprocation of the slide. In this position the tailpiece of the bolt is thrown beyond the lugs a a, and the bolt may be tilted'on its pin, so as to be removed therefrom and slipped out of the case for reversing or any other purpose. The stop device which Ihaveinvented for this purpose is a pin, H, one end of which is provided with an enlargement or collar, h, to form a seat for the end of a coiled spring, h, placed around the pin. This end of the pin rests against the front side of the case, being arranged betweenthe lower end of the lever B and the face-plate, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and is of such size as to stop the forward throw of the lever at the required point. The other end of the pinis inserted in a hole, h in the back plate of the case, the spring being held in position between the plate and the collar on the other end of the pin, and the pin of such length that when in ordinary stopping position its small end will just pass through the back plate, as shown in full lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings. Now, in order to displace this stop to permit the removal ofthe bolt a hole, h is made in the front side of the case,just behind the end of the pin, through which the latter may be forced inward by an ordinary nail or any other suitable device until this end passes beyond the lever, as shown in dotted lines in Fig.3 of the drawings. Obviously now the lever will be thrown forward under the force of its spring, when the bolt may be removed, as described above. For this purposeit will of course be necessary first to remove the lock-case from the door and detach the knob-shanks. To replace the bolt it is inserted until finally it engages with its pin, and is then pushed back in a horizontal position, carrying the lever with it, until finally thelatter passes from under the stop-pin, which is immediately forced back into place by the action of the spring 71/.

It will be understood from this description, then, that the stop may be displaced and the bolt removed from the case, and vice versa, without removing the back plate, while at the same time the stop is securely held within the case and cannot be removed therefrom without taking off said plate. The stop may, however, be applied in some different way. The aperture in the case, for instance, may be made sufficiently large to permit the pin to beintroduced through it from the outside and held in position on the other side of the case, either as described above or by providing a suitable seat for the end of the pin inside of the case. In this construction the pin would be thrust out of the case whenever it is desired to reverse the latch-bolt. In this case a spring is not necessary, unless it be to provide a catch for fastening the stop in the case. I prefer the former construction, however, for the reason that in the latter instance the stop is loose and in handling the lock-case is liable to fall out.

On account of the lateral slot in the slide the lever and bolt may be thrown back without moving the slide, or the knob-shanks, if they are in place. In closing the door therefore the necessary movement of the latch-bolt may be made without moving the slide and knobs, thus saving considerable wear, and at any time the latch-bolt may be thrust back without disturbing these parts.

The improvements described above are put into operation as follows: The" several parts are at first arranged within the lock-case, as above described and as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the bolt being adjusted for right or left door, as required, and the back plate is secured in position. The lock-case is then placed, wheneverrequired, in a suitable mortise in the door J, through which the usual holes are made for the reception of the knobshanks. As the slide E cannot escape beyond the knob-shank apertures in the lock-case, its

rear end'may be reached through the holes in the door, pushed back, and the knob-shanks introduced into and secured to the case, snbstantially as described in my former patent mentioned above, and as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 4 of the drawings. The roses K, which before insertion in the door have been put upon the shanks, are then secured to the door, thus holding the knob-shanks in proper alignment, and so preventing their detachment from the lock-case.

If it is desired to remove the case the operation will be reversed, and it will be understood that the bolts are readily taken out from the cases andreversed, as described above, so that any lock may be quickly changed from right to left Without opening the case.

In some respects changes may be made in the details of construction given above, and some of the devices named may be used in other relations and in connection with other 7 parts difi'ering from those shown in this instance. Hence I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise construction and arrangement of all the parts, as herein shown and described.

at pleasure to permit the carrier to move forward beyond its ordinary working position,

substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The lock-case provided with the apertures 711 121 in [combinationwith the bolt-carrier B, the latch-bolt (l, mounted on the carrier, the stop-pin H, separate from the carrier and arranged to stop the latter, and the spring h, arranged to actuate the stop-pin, substantially as described.

4. The reciprocating latch-bolt C, in combi nation with the actuating-slide E, provided with the lug e, and the case A, provided with the lug al, arranged to form a support for the inner end of the bolt, and a stop for the lug on the slide, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

. 5. The lock case A, in combination with the knob-shanks G, provided with the cam-projec tions g, and the opposite lugs g, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

MILTON G. NILES.

Witnesses J NO. 0. MAOGREGOR, M. B. GAGE. 

